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A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. A red herring might be intentionally used, such as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g. in politics), or it could be inadvertently used during argumentation.

The origin of the expression is not known. Conventional wisdom has long supposed it to be the use of a kipper (a strong-smelling smoked fish) to train hounds to follow a scent, or to divert them from the correct route when hunting; however, modern linguistic research suggests that the term was probably invented in 1807 by English polemicist William Cobbett, referring to one occasion on which he had supposedly used a kipper to divert hounds from chasing a hare, and was never an actual practice of hunters. The phrase was later borrowed to provide a formal name for the logical fallacy and literary device.

Logical fallacy

As an informal fallacy, the red herring falls into a broad class of relevance fallacies. Unlike the straw man, which is premised on a distortion of the other party's position, the red herring is a seemingly plausible, though ultimately irrelevant, diversionary tactic. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a red herring may be intentional, or unintentional; it does not necessarily mean a conscious intent to mislead.

The expression is mainly used to assert that an argument is not relevant to the issue being discussed. For example, "I think that we should make the academic requirements stricter for students. I recommend that you support this because we are in a budget crisis and we do not want our salaries affected." The second sentence, though used to support the first sentence, does not address that topic.

Intentional device

In fiction and non-fiction a red herring may be intentionally used by the writer to plant a false clue that leads readers or audiences towards a false conclusion. For example, the character of Bishop Aringarosa in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is presented for most of the novel as if he is at the centre of the church's conspiracies, but is later revealed to have been innocently duped by the true antagonist of the story. The character's name is a loose Italian translation of "red herring" (aringa rossa; rosa actually meaning pink, or rosy).

A red herring is often used in legal studies and exam problems to mislead and distract students from reaching a correct conclusion about a legal issue, allegedly as a device that tests students' comprehension of underlying law and their ability to properly discern material factual circumstances.

History of the idiom

In a literal sense, there is no such fish as a "red herring"; it refers to a particularly strong kipper, a fish (typically a herring) that has been strongly cured in brine and/or heavily smoked. This process makes the fish particularly pungent smelling and, with strong enough brine, turns its flesh reddish. In its literal sense as a strongly cured kipper, the term can be dated to the mid-13th century, in the poem The Treatise by Walter of Bibbesworth: "He eteþ no ffyssh But heryng red."

Until very recently, the figurative sense of "red herring" was thought to originate from a supposed technique of training young scent hounds. There are variations of the story, but according to one version, the pungent red herring would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) perpendicular to the animal's trail to confuse the dog. The dog eventually learned to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent. Another variation of the dog story is given by Robert Hendrickson (1994) who says escaping convicts used the pungent fish to throw off hounds in pursuit.

According to etymologist Michael Quinion, the idiom likely originates from an article published 14 February 1807 by radical journalist William Cobbett in his polemical Political Register. In a critique of the English press, which had mistakenly reported Napoleon's defeat, Cobbett recounted that he had once used a red herring to deflect hounds in pursuit of a hare, adding "It was a mere transitory effect of the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a stone." Quinion concludes: "This story, and extended repetition of it in 1833, was enough to get the figurative sense of red herring into the minds of his readers, unfortunately also with the false idea that it came from some real practice of huntsmen."

Although recent attempts to discredit the phrase's etymology as an old world idiom, the fact remains that its use dates back more than five hundred years, and while the technique mentioned in the NCIS quote may not have been "widespread," it was certainly a valid method of training the, and is still used in training police dogs today to reject false positives. Thus, the best and most complete definition to date comes from a reference mentioned on NCIS (TV series): "You know the derivation? Fox and hounds. Well, the only practical way to cure a herring is by smoking and salting. Yes, it turns the fish a crimson red and gives it a very distinctive smell. In the early 15th century, they used to train their hounds to hunt foxes by dragging a red herring along the ground on a piece of string to leave a trail of scent for the dogs to follow. Then, later on, they would drag a red herring across the scent trail of a real fox to test the dog's ability to ignore a false scent, or false clue. Hence, the term 'red herring' became to mean a false clue designed to fool one's opponent." Although NCIS is a fictional show, it's real-world research and accuracy of information is well-known. In fact, "the TV show NCIS and the actual NCIS work very close together to ensure things stay true to the real NCIS. They even have what boils down to a liaison between the two (a former NCIS special agent) and the real NCIS shares cases with the tv show all the time." The 2008 article by Michael Quinion and his references to William Cobbett's Weekly Political Register, reflect the 14 February 1807 issue (http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/herring.htm). This late explanation does not jibe with many references to its much earlier use, as far back as 1420. Indeed, even Quinion makes the same reference: "The first reference to them in English is from around 1420, although the technique is older than that. Within a century, they had been immortalised in the expression neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring (later, fowl was added or replaced flesh), meaning something that was nondescript or neither one thing nor another." Merriam-Webster also places the earliest reference in the "15th century," some four hundred years before Quinion's 1807 reference that appears to change the meaning of a term used in reference to a centuries-old practice. If anything, Quinion's far later reference may very well be a red herring itself.

Real-world usage

Although Cobbett most famously mentioned it, he was not the first to consider red herring for scenting hounds; an earlier reference occurs in the pamphlet "Nashe's Lenten Stuffe," published in 1599 by the Elizabethan writer Thomas Nashe, in which he says "Next, to draw on hounds to a scent, to a red herring skin there is nothing comparable." The Oxford English Dictionary makes no connection with Nashe's quote and the figurative meaning of red herring, only in the sense of a hunting practice.

The use of herring to throw off pursuing scent hounds was tested on Episode 148 of the series MythBusters. Although the hound used in the test stopped to eat the fish and lost the fugitive's scent temporarily, he eventually backtracked and located his target, resulting in the myth being classified as "Busted".

See also

• List of Red herring fallacies
• Chekhov's gun
• Chewbacca defense
• Decoy
• False flag
• Five Red Herrings
• Foreshadowing
• Garden path
• Ignoratio elenchi
• Judgmental language
• MacGuffin
• Plot twist
• Red herring prospectus
• Sidetrack
• Snipe hunt (a fool's errand or wild goose chase)
• Twelve Red Herrings

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. red herring, n. Third edition, September 2009; online version December 2011. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/160314; accessed 18 December 2011. An entry for this word was first included in New English Dictionary, 1904.
2. Patrick J. Hurley (2011). A Concise Introduction to Logic. Cengage Learning. pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-0-8400-3417-5.
3. Christopher W. Tindale (2007). Fallacies and Argument Appraisal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 28–33. ISBN 978-0-521-84208-2.
4. Nozar Niazi (2010). How To Study Literature: Stylistic And Pragmatic Approaches. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 142. ISBN 9788120340619. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
5. Bernard Marie Dupriez (1991). Dictionary of Literary Devices: Gradus, A-Z. Translated by Albert W. Halsall. University of Toronto Press. p. 322. ISBN 9780802068033. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
6. Lewis Turco (1999). The Book of Literary Terms: The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism and Scholarship. UPNE. p. 143. ISBN 9780874519556. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
7. The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible. Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 370. ISBN 9780199670390. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
8. Sheppard, Steve (2005). The history of legal education in the United States : commentaries and primary sources (2nd print. ed.). Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 1584776900. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
9. ^ Quinion, Michael (2002–2008). "The Lure of the Red Herring". World Wide Words. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
10. Bibbesworth, Walter de (c. 1250) Femina Trinity College, Cambridge MS B.14.40. 27. Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub, 2005. ISBN 9780955212406.
11. Thomas Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599): "Next, to draw on hounds to a sent, to a redde herring skinne there is nothing comparable." (Since Nashe makes this statement not in a serious reference to hunting but as an aside in a humorous pamphlet, the professed aim of which is to extol the wonderful virtues of red herrings, it need not be evidence of actual practice. In the same paragraph he makes other unlikely claims, such as that the fish dried and powdered is a prophylactic for kidney or gallstones.)
12. Currall, J.E.P; Moss, M.S.; Stuart, S.A.J. (2008). "Authenticity: a red herring?". Journal of Applied Logic. 6 (4): 534–544. doi:10.1016/j.jal.2008.09.004. ISSN 1570-8683.
13. Hendrickson, Robert (2000). The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins. United States: Checkmark.
14. "...we used, in order to draw oft' the harriers from the trail of a hare that we had set down as our own private property, get to her haunt early in the morning, and drag a red-herring, tied to a string, four or five miles over hedges and ditches..." For the full original story by Cobbett, see "Continental War" on pg. 231-33 of Political Register, February 14, 1807. In Cobbett's political register, Volume XI, 1807 at Internet Archive
15. Master Dog Training. (2015). K9 Police Dog Training. http://www.masterdog-training.com/training-a-dog/k9-police-dog-training/
16. Ducky, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigation Service. (February 15, 2005). "Witness," Season 2, Episode 14. Belisarius Productions, CBS Paramount Network Television, Paramount Television (in association with) (as Paramount A Viacom Company).
17. Olmstead. (2015). Is the real NCIS like the TV show? Answers. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/Q/Is_the_real_NCIS_like_the_TV_show
18. Literary Devices: red herring (http://www.literarydevices.com/red-herring/)
19. Merriam-Webster, "red herring" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/red%20herring
20. Nashe, Thomas (1599) Praise of the Red Herring In: William Oldys and John Malham (Eds) The Harleian miscellany Volume 2, Printed for R. Dutton, 1809. Page 331.
21. MythBusters: Season 9, Episode 1 - Hair of the Dog at IMDb
22. Episode 148: Hair of the Dog, Mythbustersresults.com

• Narrative techniques
• Plot (narrative)
• Relevance fallacies
• Informal fallacies
• Figures of speech
• Metaphors referring to animals
• English-language idioms
• Decoys